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PCWorld explains how data brokers legally collect personal information from public records, retailers, apps, and social media to create detailed consumer profiles for sale. Even careful internet users cannot avoid data collection since brokers gather information from everyday activities like store loyalty programs and voter registration. Automated data-removal services like Incogni can significantly reduce your …
Indicator: “In July’s episode of Show & Tell, Hal Triedman showed us how easy it can be to poison an AI research agent. Hal is a privacy and security researcher at Cornell Tech and former senior privacy engineer at the Wikimedia Foundation. He walked us through a recent research project he ran with colleagues Tingwei …
whistelOut: 92% of Americans are worried about their personal data being hijacked or spied on, but many won’t take basic steps to protect themselves. “Americans’ personal data has never been more at risk. While you keep ever-increasing amounts of your life online, scammers are leveraging weak passwords, AI tricks, and data breaches to find new …
TechCrunch: “Google is rolling out a new feature aimed at helping people understand when an ad they’re seeing was made using AI technology. AI makes it easier for businesses to create ads, place their brand’s products in various settings, and save money on real-world e-commerce photography. But it can also be misleading if consumers don’t …
Bleeping Computer: “DuckDuckGo announced that its browser can now block most video ads on YouTube, including those shown before the video starts playing and during playback. The feature is enabled by default in the latest versions of DuckDuckGo for iOS, Mac, and Windows, while Android users can enable it manually by going to Settings > …
Worse on Purpose: Tracking the brands that got worse on purpose — and the ones that didn’t. The Brand Ledger tracks 215 brands across tools, bags, apparel, eyewear, and footwear. Who owns them, what they used to be, whether they’re still worth buying. Updated as things change. Search the Brand Ledger Browse all brands →Read …
404 Media: “A tiny snippet of user-generated text as short as 13 words long is often enough to manipulate the AI agents that power tools like ChatGPT and Google’s AI search, new research shows. The study suggests that it is trivially easy for brands to inject promotional content on sites like Reddit, Quora, and Wikipedia …
The Drey Dossier: “…Login.gov is open source, which means the government publishes its code in the open for anyone to read, so I read it, and I walked the recent changes, since every edit gets posted in public with a date stamped on it. Over the last couple of months somebody added a new piece …
The Atlantic – How companies are gaming the chatbot internet [Gift Article]: “…For the quarter century that Google has been the de facto front door to the web, businesses have tried to find ways to get their pages at the top of search results. You’ve surely felt the influence of search-engine optimization, even if you …
The American Prospect: “The world’s largest advertising conglomerate has proposed merging with the company that has built detailed profiles on every American. A disturbing story at the intersection of innovations in war and our surveillance economy broke last week. Reuters reported on a letter sent by U.S. Central Command to Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) back …
Washington Consumers Checkbook: ” American consumers are bombarded with seemingly great deals when shopping in-store and online. Displays and banners scream for your attention: “SALE! 60% OFF!” “Regular price: $299, our price: $199.” “This weekend only: Save an extra 40%!” “Prime Day!” “Black Friday!” “[Insert your favorite holiday] Special Savings!” It’s all nonsense. Most retailers …
TechCrunch: “Whether you like it or not, Amazon continues to put AI at the center of the shopping journey. The company announced Wednesday “Alexa for Shopping,” its new personalized AI shopping assistant, powered by Alexa+. Notably, the experience will replace Rufus, its generative AI shopping assistant that launched in 2024. According to the company, Alexa …
